


The Kiss of Life

by rosecake



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Healing Sex, Nyx Ulric Lives, Ritual Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:20:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23604448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/pseuds/rosecake
Summary: Luna and Nyx narrowly manage to escape Insomnia together. Unfortunately for Nyx, the side effects of channeling the ring's power are getting worse.
Relationships: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Nyx Ulric
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38
Collections: Smut 4 Smut 2020





	The Kiss of Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Welsper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welsper/gifts).



“Nyx? Can you hear me? Nyx?”

Nyx could hear her. More than that, he could hear the worry in her voice as Lunafreya practically shouted to be heard over the whine of the engine. She was pushing the car past its limits, and the cars in the King's fleet were designed to have the highest limits around. Which meant she was probably going a lot faster than someone with less than hour’s experience behind the wheel should.

“Nyx, please. Say something.”

Nyx tried to say something. To tell her he was fine, even though he wasn’t. To tell her to slow down before she killed them. Or killed herself. He figured it was only a matter of time for him. Lunafreya had wrested the ring off his hand before they left the city, practically dragged his broken body to the car, but he didn’t think it mattered anymore whether he was wearing it or not. He could still feel the power of the old kings eating away at him from the inside, a hot ember that wouldn’t stop burning until there was nothing left of him but a hollow shell of ash.

“Come on, Nyx,” she said, and she must’ve taken her eyes off the road because he was thrown against the door as she swerved sharply, the wheels screeching as she nearly over-corrected.

He looked over at her, at the source of her voice, but his vision was blurry and going dark around the edges. Lunafreya was just a blur of light in the dark interior of the car. _I’m fine,_ he thought. _Don’t worry about me._

But there wasn't enough strength left in him to say anything.

He rocked forward as she hit the brakes too hard, bringing the car to a jolting stop. His field of vision went white as she leaned over him, blocking out the shadows. She pressed the back of her hand, cool and soothing, to his forehead, and for the first time in what felt a lifetime ages he felt something besides hot, branding pain. “Princess,” he said, and it came out so cracked and hoarse he wasn’t sure if she could understand him.

“Stay with me,” she said, leaning closer. “Please, Nyx, stay with me.” She slid her palms along the side of his face, and he leaned towards her, into her formless radiance. _Go into the light_ , he thought. Maybe it was a cliché for a reason.

He felt her lips press against his, soft and warm, and thought maybe he was dead already.

-

He woke up by the side of a lake, a million half-formed flashes of memory fighting for his attention. He vaguely remembered being dragged along the ground, remembered the shocking brace of cold water, and soft voice murmuring something he couldn’t make out. The last time he remembered feeling this conscious and alert was when he’d been fighting Glauca.

The water was clear and calm, shining brightly in the light of the sun, and he realized his hair and his clothes were damp. His head was resting in Lunafreya's lap, and her hand was on the side of his face. 

Her eyes were closed, but they opened as he turned to look up at her. Tree branches spread out above her, heavy with leaves and some kind of pale purple flower. They must have made it a long way out from the city. He couldn't remember the last time he saw nature like this.

Lunafreya smiled down at him. “How are you feeling?”

He felt fucking terrible. “Better,” he said, and it was true, because at least he no longer felt like each breath might be his last.

“That’s good,” she said, and closed her eyes again as she stroked his cheek. She looked exhausted. “I’ve been trying to heal the damage, but for a while there I wasn’t sure if I was doing any good.”

Her hair was damp, too, and the bottom of her dress was still wet. “Did you drag me into the lake?”

She blushed slightly. She’d stripped off his armor, his boots and most of his uniform, leaving him barely half-dressed in his undershirt and briefs. “You were hot to the touch,” she said, and he believed her, he could still feel the hot pulse of magic burning him from the inside out even now. Diminished, but still there, waiting for the chance to spark again. “And covered in grime, too. I needed to clean out the wounds before healing them.”

He lifted his arm, getting a good look at the strangle crystalline burn marks winding their way up from his hand. He tried to clench his fist but couldn’t.

She took his scarred hand in hers, interlacing their fingers. “It’ll get better,” she said, but he could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“It’s fine, it doesn't bother me,” he said. There wasn’t much he could do about it now. Still, when she let go of his hand, he had more feeling in his fingers. He tried to sit up, but he couldn't manage it on his own. Lunafreya had to help him get his back propped up against the tree. She sat close to him, resting her head against his shoulder, and he tried to think of anything other than how he close they were. And how undressed he was. “How'd you manage to heal me, anyway?”

“I may not be of the Lucian line, but I do have some magic of my own,” she said. “There are some privileges that come along with being the Oracle, the power to heal being chief among them.”

He'd heard stories about that, but he'd assumed they were just stories. People tended to exaggerate things, and besides that, in his experience magic was mostly a destructive force. “You’re still healing me now, aren’t you?”

It would explain the way her touch made him feel. Alive again, and normal, not like a man halfway into being burned at the stake. “Yes,” she said, and sighed. “It usually doesn’t take this long, but after that fight, well, I suppose it's a miracle you even survived long enough for me to try.”

He looked down at her, at the top of her head resting on his shoulder, her hair spilling across his chest, and without thinking pushed it back behind her ear. She made a quiet surprised noise, and he immediately regretted it. They were too close as it was. 

She wasn’t done escaping. The King’s final request had been to take her to Altissia, to the destiny that still awaited her there, and he had no doubt it would be a rough road. 

“How much energy does it take?” he asked.

“It’s nothing,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

He had to worry about it. She had so much trouble ahead of her, so much trial, maybe too much for any one person to handle. No place was truly safe for her now that Niflheim had taken Insomnia. If he couldn’t protect her, couldn’t help her, what good was he? He wasn’t the one with a destiny. She shouldn’t be wasting precious energy trying to drag him back from death’s doorstep.

“You should stop,” he said.

She shook her head. “It’s only a matter of concentration,” she said. “It doesn’t hurt me, or take anything out of me. I’m only tired because I haven’t slept in two days. It’s nothing that sleep won’t fix. I just need a little time.”

Time and concentration. He didn’t think she could afford to spare much of either.

-

They walked back to the car once the sun began to set.

He made himself walk without her help even though his legs still felt unsteady. They’d wasted enough time waiting for him to feel up to it, he didn’t want them to waste any more, but he still barely managed to make it back to the car without falling on his face. HIs clothes and the rest of his gear were in the back seat, but the there was no way he was getting dressed again without help, and he wasn’t going to ask for it.

He didn’t want to let her drive, either, but he didn’t have much choice. And for the first hour or so of the drive he was fine.

And then he was less fine, the scent of hot metal filling each breath as the power of the ring tried to claw its way back up and out of his skin, undoing all of Lunafreya’s hard work.

He ground his teeth and ignored it. He didn’t want her to stop, didn’t want her to—

-

Nyx didn’t remember passing out, but when he came to the car was pulled over to the side of the road and Lunafreya was leaning in through the passenger side door trying to shake him awake.

“Nyx?” she said. She sounded panicked. 

He felt dizzy, and he reached for her arm in a confused effort to steady himself. "Sorry," he said, his fingers dragging across her silk sleeves. His vision was going blurry again, but he could still make out her worried expression. He hadn't meant to make to her worry. "I'm fine, really." 

Lunafreya pressed her fingers hard into the soft flesh where his neck met the underside of his jaw. “I can barely feel your pulse. You should have said something!”

“I'm fine,” he said, and she shook her head furiously.

“You are not fine! It’s not working and I don’t know—“

"It's okay," he said, cutting her off. His vision was getting worse by the second, and he couldn't make out the features of her face anymore, but he thought she might be crying. “I knew what was going to happen when I put on the ring.”

He was glad that she’d tried to save him. Really, he was. But she needed to look towards the future.

“Don't talk like that,” she said. She reached across him for the controls and pushed his seat back as far as it would go. The sudden change in position made him feel light-headed, and for a second he almost passed out again. Then Lunafreya climbed in over him, straddling him, her weight holding him in place as she took his jaw in her hands. “You are _not_ going to die. I won't let you." 

“Lunafreya,” he said, reaching for her wrists. She sounded so determined, but she couldn't know what it was like, having a bonfire lit inside him. He wasn't built to survive it. “You can stop. It's inevitable.”

“Be quiet,” she said, all the weight of royal command in her tone. “I’m not going to give up, so let me concentrate.”

She pulled his shirt up, and before he had a chance to question it she pressed her hands against his bare stomach. He gasped, the unexpected touch making him shudder beneath her. 

“I just have to try harder, that's all,” she said, sliding her hands up along his ribs. “I've got to stop holding back." 

“Princess,” he said, still half in a state of shock, but he had to admit that he did feel better. There was a soothing, oddly clean feeling warmth pooling in his core. Warm, but not hot, not painful. 

Her fingers brushed against his nipples as she continued pushing her hands up beneath his shirt and he had to bit back a moan. "You don't have to call me Princess," she said, sounding soft after her earlier assertiveness. Her hands reached his shoulders, and then she pulled them back down, alongs his sides this time. He shifted slightly, trying to shift his legs directly so that she wasn't sitting as low in his lap. "Just Luna is fine." 

"Luna," he said, not sure what he had been going to say. Her skirt was riding up around her waist so she could straddle him, and her thighs were bare on either side of him. He wanted to feel the warm, smooth expanse of her skin under his palms, but he swallowed down the urge to touch her. "How far does this go?" 

“I’ve never-“ she said, her face flushed, and for the first time since he'd met her she sounded unsure of herself. Like she'd only just realized that she was riding a man she'd known for about a day and a half in the passenger seat of a fancy car. “I’ve never actually taken it this far before, but it should work. Is it working?”

“Yes,” he said. The searing pain of overflowing magic was dimming, seeping out of him, along with the bruised and beaten feeling in his muscles. He could inhale without his chest hurting, exhale without it feeling he might cough out his lungs. He felt like he’d been shot up with adrenaline. It was definitely working. “You need to stop.”

She went very still, looking down at him, a blush across her cheeks and her braid half undone. “Why?” she asked, sounding confused. 

Here she was, sitting his lap, her skirt pushed up so high he could see her underwear, chest heaving with exertion as she raked her hands across him, and it didn't really matter that she'd been trying to save his life. She was so beautiful, he'd thought so the first time he'd laid eyes on her, so beautiful she didn't seem entirely real. And now with the pain fading there wasn’t anything to distract him from how badly he wanted her, how they were basically only a few flimsy pieces of cloth from fucking. 

She moved, just a little, and he groaned as she brushed against his cock. “You’re on top of me,” he said, stating the obvious because he didn’t want to tell her the truth, _If you don’t get off me soon I’m going to come against you._ The thought of it, the though of making a mess of her, made his cock twitch with desire. 

“Do you,” she asked, licking her lips nervously, and he had to look away from her after that, “I mean - do you want me to stop?”

"That’s not it,” he said, mouth suddenly dry. She must be able to feel his erection pressing into her, must know he didn't want her to stop. “That’s not it at all.”

She leaned down right as he reached up for her, and he pulled her flush against him with all the renewed strength she'd given his arms. She pressed her mouth against him, kissing him eagerly as he ran his fingers through her hair, getting them tangled in the knots of her braid. “I want to be inside you," he said, lips dragging against her skin.

She pulled herself upright again, so fast she almost hit her head on the roof of the car. “I need to get my dress off,” she said, breathless, and he felt a nonsensical longing as she climbed off him, even if it was just to get ready for more. He couldn't tell if it was the magic or just normal human desire, but he didn't want to let go of her for even a moment. 

The war, the constant uphill struggle and the drain of borrowed magic, all of it had left him feeling empty, and he hadn't even realized how badly until then. 

“Can you get the zipper?” she asked, sitting on the very edge of the seat with her back to him, and he brushed her hair to side so it wouldn’t get caught. He pulled the zipper slowly, and Luna took a deep, long breath with each inch of newly exposed skin. When he reached the bottom she stood up, her back still to him, and gracefully let the dress fall the ground at her feet. She took her underwear off, too, and then she turned back to face him, naked in the moonlight, skin shining like a light in the darkness.

Nyx fumbled getting his own shirt off, haste making him clumsy, and before he'd even gotten his arms free she reached for the waist of his briefs, dragging them down his thighs before climbing back on top of him. He put his hands on her hips, holding her steady as she straddled him, her weight on her knees so that the warmth of her cunt just barely brushed against his cock. 

He reached down between them, and she gasped as his fingers slid across her cunt. He pushed his fingers lightly into her, just to feel her wetness, and then he took his cock and pressed it into place. 

"Nyx," she said, voice thick with desire, and he finally pushed into her. 

It was the best thing he'd ever felt, and it could have been the electric pulse of magic but he thought it was really just her, Luna, and the way she made him feel alive in a way he hadn't in years. Like there was a point to being alive, a purpose and hope that were within reach. Nyx didn't move at first, just held her tightly by her hips as he tried to steady himself, feeling her tremble hands as she adjusted to having him inside her.Her heavy breathing turned to soft, urgent moaning as he started to move underneath her. 

Neither of them could move that much, not in the tight confines of the car, but he could still rock up into her, still hold her tightly as she pressed back down on him, the tight stretch of her around his cock pulling blissfully at her with every movement no matter how shallow. And for a moment it all fell away - not just the pain, the burning, but all the suffering life had brought him. All the death and destruction and hopeless, pointless struggle, it all faded, even if just for a moment. 

When he came, Luna trembling and flushed on top of him, her body twitching in little shocks of post-orgasm pleasure, he hoped she felt the same kind of peace.

-

Afterwards he was in good enough shape to drive. Luna was in the passenger seat, still pushed back as far as it would go. She was supposed to be napping while he drove, but instead she was looking up at him, a soft smile on her face. 

“We might have to do it again,” she said, stumbling slightly over her words. "I'm not sure. It's the first time I've ever dealt with anything like this." 

“You know you don't owe me anything, right?" he said, glancing back at her again. The whole drive had been a struggle to keep his eyes on the road. "It's not your job to keep me alive. That's the opposite of how this is supposed to work." 

She was quiet for a good while. "Even if you don't need it, I still want to." 

He wanted to pull over right then, but he held off. They’d find a town, sooner or later, and then they could get a hotel room. He didn’t have his wallet anymore and he didn't think royalty carried their own cash but there must be something in the car they could sell, and then—

The future could wait a day or so.


End file.
